Tag Archives: long day

Day 2 – Why so much road?

We were lucky to be on one of these campgrounds that offer fresh bread rolls for breakfast at the reasonable time of 7.30am in the morning. So, breakfast was good…and then we had to pack up everything wet. Yes, a little rain isn’t too bad most of the time but packing your wet things simply isn’t fun.

Honey for breakfast – Number 3, that was a great idea!

Once again we weren’t quite as fast as we wanted to be as we had another looooooong day on the road ahead of us. There were still quite a few things we needed to buy, not least of all, new diapers for the Agent. So we scheduled a break from the autobahn in a commercial area of Hamburg where we could find all the shops we needed in one neat complex. Getting there proved to be harder than expected when we landed in our first real traffic jam of this trip: Stuck at the entrance of the Elbtunnel.

Half the lanes closed of the Hafentunnel – big wait, little fun

This traffic jam put us a good bit behind our schedule. There was nothing to be done about it though, we just suffered through it. As everyone with kids knows…it’s not fun. Once we got through, everything went smoothly again. We stopped right in front of the organic supermarket at the commercial complex. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any charging stations even though we were sure there had to be some. In the end, it just lost us time. If we had found a charging station, we could have skipped the charging/lunch break and just had lunch here. Time-wise it would have been a good fit with all that time spent in the traffic jam but alas, it was not to be. We bought what we needed and were out of Hamburg again.

In a small stroke of good fortune, the kids fell asleep after the shopping adventure. Even without lunch. We made good progress until we stopped for lunch almost 1pm next to a fast charger.

freedom for our legs!

Number 3 was sorely tempted by the nearby Burger King but we managed to get him to stay focused on the bread and dessert. We got lucky as there was a wooden table and bench right next to the chargers this time. It was an extended break even if we didn’t manage to sit still for long due to intermittened rain. Lunch was had on the bench before we retreated into the car for desserts.

First border crossing. Stupid for show covid border checks …

And off we went. Again. There is a reason why we usually don’t do long days on the road. They are exhausting for everyone and exceptionally boring for kids. Number 3 and the Agent were total champs though so we got through the next big chunk and into Denmark. First entry to different country of the trip. Woohooo.

At 3.30pm we had our last 15 minutes-stretch-your-legs-and-grab-a-drink-kind of a break. It was not a nice location however, right next to a fuel station. We all just wanted to get to the campground at that point. So, on we went again.

Finally, finally, we were there. Once we had set up the tent, it started raining. Raincoats and gum boots came out for the kids so Flo and I could finish setting up. The Agent of Entropy was not amused. For nearly 30 minutes she just stood where I had put her down, not moving an inch. When Flo asked her what was wrong, she pointed at her gum boots. Yeah right, it was the first time she wore proper shoes and gum boots are really heavy, especially for small kids. For the next day, she would refuse to move more than a couple of steps in these boots.

proper Baltic Sea beach attire

As a treat, while Flo was cooking, and because the rain had stopped, the kids and I went down to the beach. What a cool thing to do with kids! Number 3 just found thousands of ways to entertain himself, half of which ended with him having wet knees and a wet bum while the Agent of Entropy stared at the ocean, pointed at it and then went straight into it. I caught her before she was in deeper than her ankles but she was intrigued.

The day had been exhausting so we all went to bed early into a snugly tent with rain drumming on our tent roof.

Day 24 – Off, off and away

It only took one afternoon and one morning to make our flat look like a whirlwind went through. No matter, we’ll be back in a couple of days and can clean up then. 

Number 3 and I managed to go to the farmer’s market to buy cherries as a road snack and fresh bread at our local bakery.

Repacking was easy as we hadn’t unpacked a lot in the first place. So by 9am, we were back on the road. The distance to our friends’ place in the Netherlands isn’t too bad at 340km, but with two small kids, you have to time everything just right. 

The Agent slept and Number 3 was pretty good, which made things easy. Also, he can be distracted by audio books if push comes to shove. 

brand new and cool charger – but it did not take my charge card. 5 minutes delay for the call but then for free …

Finding a fast charger was surprisingly hard this time. Only because we started to be a bit picky and also because we wanted to stop next to the autobahn before we got to the sprawl that is the start of the Rhein-Ruhr area marked by Cologne. In the end, we stopped at an e-on charger. Flo couldn’t get the charger to work with his charge card. After calling in to report the issue, they activated it remotely and we charged for free. 

Again, there was no shade to be found. Plus, the actual rest stop was still closed on this side of the autobahn. Now we had the choice between a bench in the shade and a toilet at the fuel station or a walk across the autobahn bridge to the open rest stop. We chose to stay and eat our delicious bread and cheese. 

With all the kerfuffle in the beginning our stop ended up one and a half hours long, more than enough to fully charge the car again.

Summer holiday!

This time Number 3 fell asleep while the Agent was awake for a while. We managed to get to the Netherlands before Number 3 woke up and immediately started to complain that he had to live his life in a car and never wanted to go by car ever again. It was quite a long way for kids, we understand that. Once there, we planned to stay put for at least two nights.

As it was, the last 30 minutes dragged with me trying to keep the kids from screaming. And then just like that, we were there. 🙂 A house, a big yard and garden, shade, kids, something to drink and the world looked brighter again for Number 3. Both our kids went off to explore and we had time to talk to our friend Leonie which we hadn’t seen in way too long. 

She cooked a yummy veggie meal for us and Peter arrived before we all sat down to eat. All four kids demanded attention to get them fed and ready to sleep. By the time we had our two in bed and asleep (which didn’t take long), the others also were asleep. So, we had until 11pm to talk to Peter and Leonie before I had to fall into bed as well.

Day 269 – Meymand surprise

Didn't expect it to be so mountainous so soon...

Didn’t expect it to be so mountainous so soon…

Instead of going straight to Shiraz, we decided to go to at least one of the Lonely Planet suggestions for the east of Iran. Meymand sounded great and just like our thing. A slightly weird village in a quiet mountain region, sleepy and with a cool highlight (this is an ancient troglodyte village with 2500 rooms dug into the sandstone).

The ride looked a bit daunting for a day, with 450 km to go, but we thought to give it a try and stop if need be. At least we would leave the brutal heat of Bandar Abbas behind is. Even in the morning, the temperature went over 30 degrees. The landscape surprised us, with cool rock formations starting right outside of Bandar Abbas. As we got higher, the temperatures got more tolerable as well. With a decent two lane highway for almost the entire way, we made good progress.

Found a kebab shop where the owner assured me that they have nothing but meat...then Flo was served his kebab with bread and yogurt...

Found a kebab shop where the owner assured me that they have nothing but meat…then Flo was served his kebab with bread and yogurt…

During our lunch break we had our first encounter with a particular aspect of Iranian hospitality. Luckily our guidebook and friends prepared us for this: When we wanted to pay for our lunch, the shopkeeper said it was free. It is part of a polite game to refuse and insist on paying as a guest (three times). If they give in, it was politeness, if they insist it was a genuine offer. I like the dynamic of that – everything is very polite and done with a smile and it feels much nicer to spend money this way. Besides, the kebab was excellent.

Around 5 pm we were on the final kilometers towards Meymand, expecting a quiet night in a sleepy little town. Instead there was a greeting committee at the entrance to the village. With complementary drinks and cookies. We got swarmed and many smartphone photos got taken. Through much confusion, we found out that today of all days (Thursday is the first day of the weekend in Iran) they had a big festival going. The mountaineering club organized a big hike for Friday morning up one of the nearby peaks. This at least tripled the usual population of 40 with day trippers and camping hikers.

Posing with Mohsen

Posing with Mohsen

When we mentioned that we would like to stay in the towns only guesthouse (featuring a night in one of the many cave rooms of the town), smartphones got drawn all around and in no time we got ushered into the village and in front of the guesthouse keeper. People followed us all the way to get a chance to get a picture taken. We were village celebrates in no time, especially after some people translated the story behind our trip. At this point, Mohsen showed up with two girls in tow, being extremely nice and helpful as well. He is a local tour guide and invited us to come hiking with them in the morning – starting 6 am.

It's like a hobbit hole!

It’s like a hobbit hole!

A  bit overwhelmed, we unloaded our stuff into our little hobbit hole. After a little breather and a change of clothes, we had just enough time for a little stroll to explore the village before dinner in the guesthouse restaurant. We once again got stopped and asked for a picture at least every 5 meters. We heard rushed conversation all around with people explaining in Farsi what our deal was and where we were from to any newcomer. It was great fun and very sweet.

Azemeh asked for a picture with her and Maede before inviting us to her home. So lovely!

Azemeh asked for a picture with her and Maede before inviting us to her home. So lovely!

One of the encounters developed into something more though. We got asked for photos by a very nice lady. During our brief conversation, she invited us to visit her home. This, on it’s own is also not too unusual and is part of Iranian small talk when spoken lightly. We declined by explaining that we were staying in town this night, but Azemeh made clear that was a genuine offer. She and her family lived in the next proper city 35 km back. We had no firm plans and after some thinking, we agreed to call her once we got into town the next day (after maybe hiking in the morning). It was very touching to see that she was genuinely excited about this.

During dinner we met another kind couple from the Czech Republic. They had traveled a lot themselves and it was great to swap some travel stories. It also helped to ignore the rude behaviour of the big tour group from an unnamed neighboring country of Germany.

Exhausted, we retreated to our surprisingly cold room and crawled into our beds with an extra blanket each to snuggle up for the night.